Vietnam - Japan work to preserve ethnic culture (September 02, 2004)

VietNamNet – The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and Japan’s Osaka University have implemented the Research and Video Documentation Project of Minorities' Intangible Cultural Heritage in Vietnam (RVMV).

Targeting enhancement of the ability to preserve and promote museum cultural heritage, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is cooperating with University Osaka in a training programme to save intangible cultural heritages of minority groups.

The training, with support from the Japan Fund, will be held from August 10 to 26. The trainees will have a fact-finding trip at a Cham and two Raglai villages in Ninh Thuan province on August 13 to 20.

Attending the trip are eight Japanese Professors and 28 Vietnamese trainees, who are researchers of museums in Hanoi and the Central Highlands.

The trainees will be versed in theory and methods to record and document images and sounds, effective use of a movie camera, optic arts, as well as music and stories of Cham and Raglai culture. After that, they will conduct their own recordings, interviewing villagers, all under the guidance of Japanese tutors.

After the fact-finding trip, they will bring their work to Hanoi, where professors will impart editorial skills, leaving the finished work to be shown at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

Under the framework of the training programme, organisers already conducted two training sessions to Nghe An province in 2001 and Tuyen Quang province in 2002 researching the Tay, Thai, Dao and Cao Lan minorities.